Training Wheels

Thursday

Oct 13, 2011 at 9:00 AM

On a recent weekday, as I’m riding home from our Water Street office upon my Schwinn steelframe bicycle, a taxi cab slows down next to me and the driver, window down, yells “get off the road!” Apparently by riding on the white line to the left of the road interferes with his right-turn-only lane. I swallow the “fuck you asshole!” on the tip of my tongue, and instead, as I come to a stop at the red light at the Grafton Street intersection, I calmly inform him that “actually, I have the same rights to the road as you.”

On a recent weekday, as I&rsquo;m riding home from our Water Street office upon my Schwinn steelframe bicycle, a taxi cab slows down next to me and the driver, window down, yells &ldquo;get off the road!&rdquo; Apparently by riding on the white line to the left of the road interferes with his right-turn-only lane.

I swallow the &ldquo;fuck you asshole!&rdquo; on the tip of my tongue, and instead, as I come to a stop at the red light at the Grafton Street intersection, I calmly inform him that &ldquo;actually, I have the same rights to the road as you.&rdquo;

A NEW RIDE

Admit it; many of you have done this before. We get behind the wheel of a car or truck and the road becomes our own. We don&rsquo;t want to share the road, we&rsquo;re pissed off at the idiots who obviously don&rsquo;t know how to drive a vehicle and are now holding us up with their fender bender, and we certainly don&rsquo;t care if speeding past grandma on the straightaway burns up extra fuel.

Yet something has changed for me. I&rsquo;ve spent the last four months as a member of NuRide, an award program for green efforts. What it has done for me &ndash; and hundreds of others in Worcester &ndash; is get me out of my car and into the community, sharing space with our neighbors while at the same time working toward an environmentally sustainable future.

As a NuRide member, I have an account online (nuride.com) where I log the trips I take on my bicycle, use public transit, carpool or when I bust my ass in the office for four days straight to take Friday off and save on a day&rsquo;s commute. What do I get other than a warm, fuzzy feeling for being good to the planet? I get points. For instance, I receive 100 points each way for helping to reduce congestion by leaving my car at home and riding my bike to work. Or if I carpool, I receive points for reducing my carbon footprint. Points can be redeemed for restaurant coupons, retailer discounts and tickets for attractions.

NuRide was first launched in Washington D.C. in 2004 as a way to address traffic and emissions issues. NuRide&rsquo;s concern is that too many Americans are spending too much money on fuel and emitting a dangerous amount of pollutants into our air by driving solo and using vehicles for trips that could otherwise be carried out with more economical and greener forms of transportation.

By encouraging and awarding the use of public transit, riding a bicycle, walking and telecommuting or working a compressed work week, NuRide hopes to reduce the number of cars and trucks on the roads, in turn reducing traffi c congestion and emissions, and aims to save you money while cleaning up the air we breathe.

But wait, what about the swarm of hipsters riding around on mopeds that get 90 to 100 miles to the gallon or the ecominded adult with the scooter getting a similar amount? Even a motorcycle or hybrid car is a more environmentally friendly choice than a F150, but NuRide vice president of operations Eve Stokes says while NuRide is thrilled to see the use of more efficient motorized vehicles, they&rsquo;re still on the road, in traffic, causing congestion while increasing the amount of emissions compared to roads with freer moving traffic.

ECO PARTNERS

It makes sense for Massachusetts to be one of six states that partner with NuRide. Our state legislature has been warming to the idea that transitioning to more efficient forms of transportation will benefit everyone.

The Climate Protection and Green Economy Act, signed by Governor Patrick in 2008, aims to reach a greenhouse gas emission reduction of 10 to 25 percent of what it was in 1990 by 2020 and a reduction of 80 percent by 2050. The 80 percent reduction would allow Massachusetts to boastfully join other New England states Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont with emitting less than 20 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, compared to the 94.4 MMTCO2e emitted in 1990, based on 2009 Emissions from Fossil Fuel Combustion report by the Environmental Protection Agency.

MassRIDES, a travel options initiative run by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, suggests green ways to commute to residents statewide. MassRIDES features NuRide in several locations on its site commute.com, including on the homepage. Rebecca Cyr, communications coordinator for MassRIDES, says since the launch of the partnership with NuRide in January of this year, more than 6,400 Bay State residents have signed on to NuRide, including MassRIDES Worksite Service partners which are organizations working with MASSRIDES to offer their employees and students green travel options. She hopes to see this number grow.

In Worcester, Worksite Service partners UMass Medical School, UMass Memorial Hospital, Quinsigamond Community College and Hanover Insurance Group currently have the most active members participating in NuRide. According to MassRIDES, these users, along with the thousands of others statewide, have saved the state of Massachusetts alone 9.9 million vehicle miles, more than 460,000 gallons of gas and lowered emissions by more than 4,600 tons by using NuRide.

To sign up, users must be at least 18 years of age and give NuRide their home and commute address so the system can calculate the user&rsquo;s energy savings while also listing them in an interactive directory for other NuRiders to find and contact through e-mail about possible ride shares. NuRide has not yet partnered with transportation departments in every state, however if one&rsquo;s commute destination is in a partnering state while their residence is not, they may still participate in NuRide and earn rewards. Before NuRide launched in Massachusetts last September, 400 Connecticut residents who commute into the Bay State were already logging trips, earning points and redeeming them for discounts in partnering state Connecticut.

Working at Worcester Mag, I have a wacky schedule of leaving home before sunrise some mornings and some days not leaving the office until 7 p.m. or later; not to mention the days I have to travel out of town for interviews and take photos for stories. So for me, riding my bike as much as I can makes sense &mdash; where carpooling just wasn&rsquo;t an option. Yet for individuals with normal nine-to-five schedules, using NuRide to find neighbors to carpool with seems only sensible. This could be your chance to talk with the attractive brunette who lives two blocks down the street, a much better choice of morning entertainment than a morning radio show.

Yet participating in NuRide encouraged me to take alternative transportation that I normally wouldn&rsquo;t consider &ndash; such as the bus. There was never a reason to take public transit when I could either walk or ride my bike, but hell, it earns me points and gives me an inside look at the WRTA, so why not. For the first 10 minutes of the ride, the young man driving and I chatted about his life as a bus driver. After learning that I was not a teenager &ndash; as he first presumed &ndash; he asked me if I had ever been to a Spanish dance club and preceded to let me know which one he worked at in the city, which nights and ensured me if I came down, it would be a good time. Even though we didn&rsquo;t exchange digits, I walked off the bus at City Hall that morning with a smirk on my face.

Katie Lacasse, a Ph.D. student at Clark University studying social psychology with a concentration on environmental behaviors, helped explained my sudden decision for taking the bus when I had a perfectly fine bicycle at my disposal. &ldquo;Driving a car is a cultural symbol. Once people are willing to break out of that [and try a different form of transportation], they&rsquo;ll be more likely to try other forms of [green commutes].&rdquo;

After a few weeks my points started to add up. In my NuRide account I can see all rewards available to me on one page and order them by newest, popular and by the amount of points needed for each prize. Like an eight-year-old peering through a glass case containing rubber dinosaurs and stick-on tattoos with a string of yellow tickets in hand, I took my time deciding. Outside magazine for a discounted year subscription was my choice.

POSITIVE INCENTIVES

NuRide says it will continue to encourage greener uses of travel, but it&rsquo;s uncertain if users of the program will go beyond their ride and embark upon a fuller green lifestyle &ndash; yet this is its main objective.

Lacasse says &ldquo;the more reasons you give people to do something, the more likely they are to do it.&rdquo; However, she says by using external reasons like rewards to dine out or see fine art, users may not focus on the positive environmental impact that they&rsquo;re making, but rather the fun activities they&rsquo;re doing at a cheaper cost. NuRide gives users their fuel savings in dollar amounts, which Lacasse admits may not encourage other green lifestyle changes. She uses the example of someone who may take the bus instead of a car, but if impressed by the money saved, may not buy healthier, yet more expensive, organic produce.

While it&rsquo;s hard to equate the level of effort it takes to walk to the post office with the value of awards offered, Lacasse notes that when rewards that people receive are not equal to the amount of effort they&rsquo;re exerting, they may ask themselves, &ldquo;Why am I really doing this?&rdquo; I know I probably could have found a better discount than the $10 off my Outside magazine subscription, but for me, I like that NuRide is the little voice in my head reminding me to do my part, even if I&rsquo;m not being given a flat-screen television at the end of every commute.

There&rsquo;s no membership fee for businesses who offer discounts for NuRide users, but Pat Doyle of Project Oceanology in Groton, Conn., says partnering with NuRide &ldquo;has worked out well,&rdquo; and explains NuRide worked extensively with Project Oceanology to make sure the organization was getting something back as well.

That &ldquo;something&rdquo; is new customers. So far, all redeemed passes have been NuRide users who had never been to Project Oceanology before and 90 percent of them had never heard of the business before learning about them through NuRide.

Manager of communications and marketing at the EcoTarium Julieane Frost expresses similar gratitude that NuRide made sure the reward offered would work for the EcoTarium while also appealing to NuRiders and their families.

For Worcesterites, in addition to being able to make discounted purchases online at stores including Brookstone, YummyEarth and LetsGoGreen, NuRiders can receive coupons for $10 off a $40 or more purchase at One Love Cafe on Main Street, $10 off a $50 or more purchase at Dick&rsquo;s Sporting Goods in Lincoln Plaza, a free child&rsquo;s admission to the EcoTarium with the purchase of an adult admission, a free sandwich at Quiznos with the purchase of a sandwich and fountain drink and $5 off a $15 or more purchase at 5 & Diner Restaurant in Lincoln Plaza.

I&rsquo;m a prime example of how the coupons are likely to get people spending money in their local economies. In the past two and a half years since I ate at One Love Cafe as a &ldquo;welcome to Worcester&rdquo; lunch with friend and coworker at the time Scott Zoback, I&rsquo;ve done nothing but tell others to check out the independently run restaurant, while I myself hadn&rsquo;t been back. Ten dollars off lunch was just enough of an incentive for me to go back, and because I physically wouldn&rsquo;t be able to ride my bike back to work after eating $40 worth of food on my own, I put the coupon towards a lunch date with a strapping young man&mdash;a win-win.

Venice Fouchard, owner of independently run restaurant One Love Cafe on Main St., says she&rsquo;s had several NuRiders use the coupon at her establishment, including one who brought three friends, another example of NuRide getting new customers through the door of local businesses. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s great,&rdquo; says Fouchard of the NuRide program and &ldquo;I hope more people use it.&rdquo;

Clark graduate student and NuRide user Brad McNamara also plans to use his points at local eateries. &ldquo;We have to go there,&rdquo; said McNamara to his girlfriend while walking by B.T. Smokehouse last week. The smokehouse&rsquo;s recent partnership with NuRide giving users 15% off an order of $20 or more, is &ldquo;the perfect excuse&rdquo; says McNamara. One Love Cafe is also on his list of places to check out with his NuRide coupon.

So what do sponsoring businesses get in return for giving coupons to green-minded folks? For starters, free exposure. I had never heard of Project Oceanology&mdash;or several of the other participating businesses&mdash;until I saw them listed in my list of awards available to me. While I haven&rsquo;t yet, I plan to make a trip to Groton, Conn., and check out a seal watch or lighthouse tour cruise &ndash; for cheap! Because the deal is you have to buy one ticket to get a free one, Project Oceanology doesn&rsquo;t just get me through the doors, but a friend of mine who may not have heard of them before either.

Businesses are given the option to restrict the number of times a reward can be redeemed, how long a reward is available and the value of the reward they offer. For those who allow users to redeem coupons as often as once a week build loyalty with their customers. NuRide reports many of their awarding partners participate for at least a year and instead of using difficult-to-guess value-percentage coupons, many offer specific dollar amounts off a minimum purchase. Depending on a NuRider&rsquo;s area, they will see raffles offered on their redeemable awards. In the past, a Smugglers&rsquo; Notch get-away was given to one user who only had to redeem 500 of their points to enter.

&ldquo;We&rsquo;re always trying to meet member needs,&rdquo; says Stokes. As NuRide expands into different markets, the functionality of the system changes to best serve the people and businesses in that area. Since 2006, NuRide has opened registration up to a broader socioeconomic class. Instead of requiring registration verification through an e-mail address connected to an official organization such as a business or school, stay-at-home moms or those in-between jobs can now register with a Facebook account that has at least 10 friends or via text message. They&rsquo;ve added more green-commuting options as qualifying for points in addition to ride shares, all updates aiming to be more inclusive in awarding those who are helping in the fight against congestion and vehicle pollution.

WE&rsquo;RE IN THIS TOGETHER

Many of the discounts offered through NuRide encourage togetherness. Most of the museums give NuRiders free admission with the purchase of another ticket. Many of the restaurants require a minimum purchase but offer serving sizes that would fill the stomachs of two or more people. Project Oceanology says that a survey taken by their NuRide customer&rsquo;s reports 48 percent of them would bring four or more people with them to redeem their coupon. Bringing people together, saving them money and having them support local business is a framework for a sustainable community that values its quality of life.

Sitting on the WRTA bus watching all walks of life get on and off at different stops along Belmont and Main streets, a sense of equality takes hold: being on this bus, on a city roadway, gives commuting options to all, not just those who can afford to own cars. Here, everyone arrives at their destination together. City infrastructure is, or should be, built for and accessible to all residents.

&ldquo;Towns are being smarter about their [transportation] development[s],&rdquo; says Stokes. As thousands have replaced their cars with bicycles in cities such as Manhattan, the local governments have dumped large amounts of money into bike lanes, paths and even parking for bicycles. While it&rsquo;s not in the foreseeable future for Worcester to spend millions on rescaping city streets with bike lanes, NuRide could play a part in bringing awareness for the need of better infrastructure to allow more accessibility to greener forms of transportation.

&ldquo;NuRide is a tool in a toolbox,&rdquo; says Stokes. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not the face of the public,&rdquo; but once the cry for greater accessibility and greener commutes is made from city residents, NuRide hopes to be there to provide aggregated data to governing bodies on a specific community&rsquo;s demand for accessible alternative forms of transportation.

NuRide says they&rsquo;re equally concerned and goal oriented to improving air quality as they are to traffic congestion. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re so intrinsically joined... you can&rsquo;t solve one without solving the other,&rdquo; says Stokes.

Frost says the EcoTarium feels good that &ldquo;we are showing our support for the state&rsquo;s effort to encourage individuals to do what they can to promote cleaner air, reduce traffic and be conscious of their energy use.&rdquo;

&ldquo;I see Worcester changing but not quickly,&rdquo; says McNamara. He explains that there needs to be a core culture of individuals engaging and promoting the use of alternative transportation and he simply hasn&rsquo;t run into very many people who are using NuRide. He says &ldquo;I&rsquo;d love to see it used by everyone..It&rsquo;s definitely a great system and I will continue to use it more and more.&rdquo;

PEDAL TO THE METAL

NuRide knows change can&rsquo;t happen with just one school or business encouraging their students and employees to carpool. &ldquo;The solution will come from each and every one of us doing our part,&rdquo; states its mission.

Honks and middle fingers coming from passing cars now seem inevitable when riding my bike. But for me, it&rsquo;s worth it for the satisfaction of knowing I&rsquo;m one small part of a city that is making an effort to give its residents equal rights to public space, reducing emissions during a global warming crisis and promoting healthy choices, all of which make quality of life better for all of us.

For more information or to sign-up for NuRide visit nuride.com. To learn more about MassRIDES visit commute.com.

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